Although conventional automated teller machines (ATM) are convenient because they provide access to funds in a multitude of locations and after normal banking hours, and enable customers to avoid the long lines that are typical in savings & loans and banks, the convenience is limited. The convenience is limited because conventional ATMs do not provide customers services beyond normal banking transactions. What is needed is an ATM with multi-transactional capability which would be capable of accepting currency, debit cards, credit cards, smart cards, and sell products and services.
In conventional ATMs, ATM events are single-destination transactions; i.e., a transaction would be routed to either the ATM or credit card issuer only. In the Super-ATM structure, multiple-destination transactions are supported where one transaction can result in different messages being routed to any number of destinations.
Previously, only published, industry standard protocols/message sets were supported for all communication along the transaction path, limiting transaction types to those defined in ISO 8583. In the Super-ATM system, an unlimited number and combination of "standard" and proprietary protocols or message sets can be utilized to facilitate a transaction, and ISO 8583 is only used for that portion of a message that requests authorization from an ATM or credit card issuer.
In the past, bank and regional network software were not capable of receiving credit card (POS) trasactions through ATMs, because, among the other things, the fee settlement paradigm for standard ATM transaction (issuer pays routing costs) directly opposes that for POS transactions (acquirer pays costs). In contrast, the Super-ATM and the host (or "back end") record and report ATM transactions and POS transactions separately for settlement purposes, appearing as if originated by separate ATM or POS terminals. The protocol used between a Super-ATM and the host is proprietary.